Ludacris Helps To Raise Awareness About Runaways

The National Runaway Switchboard (NRS) recently announced that Ludacris will star in their new series of public service announcements aimed at raising awareness of the youth runaway crisis in America.

Luda (born Chris Bridges) will be featured in two 30-second and two 60-second video PSAs. One set of the PSAs will focus on raising awareness about the runaway issue and NRS' hotline, 1-800-RUNAWAY. The other set of PSAs will focus on November's National Runaway Prevention Month.

"Between 1.6 and 2.8 million youth run away in a year," explained NRS executive director Maureen Blaha via a statement. "Having Ludacris featured in this PSA campaign will help ensure that every runaway and at-risk youth and their family know about the help they can receive by calling 1-800-RUNAWAY."

The PSAs will be distributed to more than 1,300 broadcast television stations and cable outlets throughout the country this week

The Ludacris Foundation and the NRS joined forces last fall after the Atlanta bred rapper released his single "Runaway Love" featuring Mary J. Blige. The song addressed a number of situations that youth face every day, often leading them to running away.

The NRS announced in February that they plan to award Ludacris and his foundation for their work with runaways.

According to NRS records, since their partnership with Ludacris they have experienced more than a 50 percent increase in calls to their hotline from a year ago, and the number of visitors to their website has increased more than 60 percent.